The War of Southern Independence (known alternatively in the United States as the War of Southern Secession or the Civil War), was an armed conflict fought between 1861 and 1863 in North America between the United States of America and the separatist Confederate States of America. The war was officially begun upon the shelling of Fort Sumter in Charleston by US troops in April of 1861 and ended on July 1, 1863 with the ceasefire agreement that led to the October signing of the Treaty of Baltimore, which officially established the Confederacy. Major battles included First and Second Bull Run, Shiloh, Antietam and Chambersburg.